As young children have a higher proportion of body water than adults, keeping hydrated is particularly important. Encouraging children to drink fluids regularly can be vital as children do not always recognise the early stages of thirst, especially during periods that drive up body fluid losses, such as physical activity or warm weather.
Dehydration can cause tiredness, headaches, lack of concentration and reduced mental performance.
RECOMMENDATIONS
According to recommendations from the European Food Safety Authority, children aged one to four should aim to drink six to eight glasses of fluid per day (150-200ml per drink). The exact amount needed varies according to factors such as body size, weather and physical activity levels.
The British Dietetic Association (BDA) adds that infants up to six months old should drink 550ml through milk, and children aged up to 12 months should drink between 640ml and 800ml.
Stacey Lockyer, nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, says the type of fluid consumed is also important. ‘Water and plain, unsweetened milk are the best choice of drinks,’ she explains. ‘Water hydrates without providing calories or damaging teeth, and milk doesn’t harm teeth and provides nutrients such as protein, B vitamins, iodine and calcium.
‘Children aged 12 months to two years should have whole milk. After two years, children can have semi-skimmed milk if they are growing well, or unsweetened calcium-fortified dairy alternatives, but not rice drinks as they can contain unsafe levels of arsenic. Skimmed and 1 per cent milk are not suitable for children under five.
‘Fruit and vegetable juices can provide some vitamins and minerals, and smoothies also contain fibre.
‘However, juices and smoothies also contain sugars and can be acidic, so it’s recommended to limit them to one small glass a day and keep them to mealtimes, or dilute them with one part juice to ten parts water.
‘Fizzy drinks, fruit squashes and sweetened milk drinks are best avoided, and to protect teeth from decay, toddlers should be consuming drinks including milk from a cup or free-flowing beaker and not from a bottle.’
ACCESS TO WATER
However, according to research published in Nutrition Today, more than half of children aged between four and 18 consume fluid below recommended levels.
ERIC, the children’s bowel and bladder charity, ran the ‘Water is Cool in School’ campaign until 2005 to improve the quality of provision and access to fresh, clean drinking water for pupils in primary and secondary schools in the UK. As a result, thousands of schools established ‘water bottles on desks’ schemes, with water bottles in the classroom permitted or encouraged in 78 per cent of the primary schools surveyed.
ERIC communications manager Alina Lynden says, ‘The campaign was very successful at improving the provision of drinking water in schools. In recent months, however, children’s charities and parents have told us that the provision of drinking water in schools has deteriorated. We believe it is an ongoing problem for children today and something that can have a huge impact on health and well-being.’
BARRIERS TO ACCESS
Access to water remains one of the main barriers to children’s hydration. A 2013 survey by Netmums and the National Hydration Council found over 60 per cent of UK parents said their child’s school did not provide water throughout the day, 64 per cent said water is banned from classrooms, and 73 per cent said there is no access to water fountains.
ERIC found that following its campaign, plumbed-in water coolers and drinking fountains with a swan neck increased in popularity, but taps and traditional water fountains remained the most prevalent water facilities and were still most frequently located in the toilet area. The charity describes both these facilities and their location as poor practice.
CoolerAid, a water cooler supplier, has targeted educational institutions since it identified similar issues with the location of water in many schools.
Its national account manager, Mike Bailey-Griffiths, says, ‘Unfortunately, a lot of educational institutions still site their water fountains and drinking water taps near toilet facilities. These fountains can become dirty and contaminated with bugs and germs, and are often poorly maintained because of their proximity to the loos. They can seem unappealing, so even though there is provision, they may not be utilised.’
Ms Lynden acknowledges there is still a way to go in tackling the availability of water for children.
‘In recent times, ERIC has heard anecdotal evidence from families and other children’s health charities that encouragement and facilitation of drinking water still vary greatly between schools,’ she says. ‘However, it is important that we obtain concrete evidence of the extent of the problem to know how best to tackle it.’
CASE STUDY
Wylye Coyotes Afterschool Club in Codford, Wiltshire was highly commended by judges in the Wise Up with Water Challenge run by the National Hydration Council and Children’s Food Trust. Forty children aged between three and 11 took part.
Director Kate Brayne says, ‘We got involved because many children had barely had anything to drink all day until they came to us. Parents also said although they gave children drinks to take to school, they often came back virtually untouched, and they were worried their children weren’t drinking enough.’
Staff discussed barriers to drinking enough during the day with children, whose comments included:
- ‘I’m too busy playing to drink.’
- ‘I don’t like the drink in my flask.’
- ‘There is water from the tap at school but I don’t think the plastic cups are clean.’
- ‘I asked the teacher if I could get a drink and she said no.’
- ‘School water tastes funny.’
As part of the project, all children were given a water bottle, which they decorated themselves. The staff then made a scoreboard to count how much water each child was drinking.
‘We gave all the children a picture of an empty water bottle, and got them to colour in how much they’d drunk that day at school,’ says Ms Brayne. ‘At the end of the project we did the same again and compared the difference. Most had increased how much they were drinking.’
Following the project, the club used the bottles as hanging planters for crops on the garden fences.
Increased hydration
Ms Brayne says the project has had an ongoing effect on the nursery’s approach to fluid consumption.
‘Since then we have always been very strict about making the children drink at least one whole cup of either water or sugar-free squash when they arrive, and we do actually watch and check that they have,’ she says.
‘We talk a lot about why it is important to drink water and we always have it available for self-service. On hot days, we take a tray with cups and jugs outside so the children can get drinks without having to go indoors.’
Increased hydration led to improved behaviour, according to Ms Brayne. ‘We did see changes in the children when they were well hydrated,’ she says. ‘On one occasion we took children to a farm on a very hot day. One of the boys was constantly squabbling and not listening, while his sister was moping about. At lunch time I spotted that neither had a drink with them. I asked what they had had to drink that morning and they both said nothing.
‘We went over to the staff canteen and I got them some water, and their behaviour was completely transformed for the rest of the day.
‘Young children can’t learn effectively if they are dehydrated, and I am convinced that being dehydrated can cause behavioural issues.
‘Being involved in the project did really make us aware of how dehydration was an issue for many of the children who come to us each day.’
DRINKING WATER: TOP TIPS
Lead by example. If you make a face about eating broccoli, chances are children aren’t going to accept it either. The same goes for drinking enough water. If they don’t see you drinking it, they won’t want to themselves.
Keep water close by. If children are sitting down playing, leave a beaker or cup beside them. Ensure they have a drink of water with meals. By simply placing the water in front of them, you will encourage them to drink it. Don’t make a big deal about them having to drink it, just leave it there and let them sip away as they please.
Offer water-based foods. Water can come from food too. You can ensure that children are getting enough fluids each day by providing them with fruits and vegetables that have a high water content, such as cucumber, courgettes, watermelon and strawberries.
Compromise. Try infusing water with fruit to make it look pretty and exciting. Add kiwis, strawberries, cucumber, or whatever the children like. Make it into a fun activity that you can do together, coming up with different combinations and getting them involved in the process. After a while, you can slowly introduce the idea of less fruit and eventually move on to plain water.
Make water exciting. Try using a soluble vitamin tablet in water. They might not always need the extra vitamins, but the whole process of dropping it into their water and watching it fizz up can be so exciting for children.
Courtesy of Siobhan Berry at Mummy Cooks
